Savannah Morning News | STAN DEATON, PH.D.http://savannahnow.com/sms/taxonomy/term/161905/
enCommentary: Give Georgia's founder his due,name bridge after Oglethorpehttp://savannahnow.com/column/2013-02-10/commentary-give-georgias-founder-his-duename-bridge-after-oglethorpe
<div><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/11967749.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="420" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/11967750.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="163" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/11968382.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="337" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/11967805.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="187" /></div><p />
<p>Making a reality of dreams is one of the hardest of human endeavors. </p>
<p>Christopher Columbus said, “Nothing that is achieved in human progress is achieved with unanimous consent. Those who are enlightened before the others are condemned to pursue that light in spite of others.” </p>
<p>There is a wonderful moment in Ridley Scott’s film “1492” in which Sanchez, the treasurer of the House of Aragon, dismisses Columbus as a dreamer. Columbus tells him to look out the window and asks, what do you see? Sanchez answers, “I see rooftops, I see palaces, I see spires that reach to the sky! I see civilization!” Columbus responds, “All of it built by people like me.” </p>
<p>The best dreamers are doers too, and Georgia founder James Edward Oglethorpe was both. </p>
<p>In Savannah, he’s known simply as “Gen. Oglethorpe” and he remains the most prominent figure in Georgia’s colonial history. </p>
<p>He is still to this day revered for his leadership, his vision and his stamp on Savannah, and ranks among the great colonial founders like John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay, Roger Williams of Rhode Island, William Penn of Pennsylvania and John Smith of Virginia.</p>
<p>Oglethorpe spent 10 years of his life married to the Georgia colony. Under the colony’s charter, Oglethorpe, as a Trustee, couldn’t hold office, own land or receive a salary. It was all volunteer work, and it would consume him and everything he did. The colony had to be established, peopled, governed and strengthened in the face of challenges and problems that would have killed lesser men — problems with medicine, sanitation, disease, food, housing, Native Americans, the Spanish, disgruntled colonists, unhappy Trustees back home, and the sweltering heat, humidity, monsoon-like rains and mosquitoes of a Savannah summer. </p>
<p>Oglethorpe first made friends with the natives, then, with the help of enslaved African-Americans, much of the pine forest was cleared, and Oglethorpe laid out the town of Savannah. </p>
<p>Oglethorpe also had to allocate land, build forts, roads and bridges, arbitrate disputes, maintain good diplomatic relations with the Indians, care for the sick, keep up morale — in other words, he acted as father figure, commander-in-chief, mayor, chief justice and governor. </p>
<p>The Trustees’ vision of Georgia would have made Georgia one of the most enlightened of all British provinces in the Age of Reason. </p>
<p>The Trustees’ motto was <em>non sibi sed aliis </em>— not for self, but for others. Indians would be treated fairly and with justice. This was not only humane, but would ensure that the natives would side with Great Britain when the inevitable wars broke out with other European powers. </p>
<p>The prohibition on rum would keep everybody sober and working hard. Prohibiting slaves and slavery was the final and most important piece of the puzzle. Abolitionism was just gaining ground in Britain, but no slavery also meant that the colony would attract only hard-working white settlers, while avoiding the kind of class divisions found in Britain. Georgia wouldn’t develop like South Carolina, where the wealthy, landed, slave-owning elite controlled everything. </p>
<p>In the end, the Trustees’ vision of Georgia collapsed. Georgia survived only by becoming a Royal colony in 1752, operated by the crown and the British government. Eventually, of course, slavery came into the colony and large landholdings followed. Oglethorpe’s big dream died a hard death. </p>
<p>Where do we place Oglethorpe in history — as a man with a flawed mission or as visionary who laid the foundation for modern Georgia? Oglethorpe, alone among the Trustees, came to Georgia, lived and worked here, and when the whole experiment might have ended in disaster, he championed our cause and worked to secure Georgia’s rightful place in the strongest empire on Earth. In doing so, he ensured its ultimate survival. </p>
<p>Oglethorpe did three things of lasting importance: He worked to unite Georgia’s people, to keep her enemies at arm’s length and to provide a foundation that would allow her the opportunity to prosper and grow. That is what government and leadership are really all about. The grand experiment lives on.</p>
<p>From time to time, Savannahians discuss renaming the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Bridge, and with good reason: It’s named for one of the most backward-looking, outspokenly racist demagogues in our history. Even when the original bridge was rebuilt, we named it again for Talmadge. For many, the name remains an embarrassment. </p>
<p>It was Talmadge who said in a stump speech, “Before God, the niggers will never go to a school which is white while I am governor.” It was Talmadge who referred to the Rosenwald Fund as “Jew money for niggers.” Racial demagoguery was Talmadge’s stock in trade and he was proud of it. Would we put his words on a banner and fly them from the bridge so that all who drive over it will know that this is what we believe and stand for? Naming the bridge for him is tantamount to doing so. </p>
<p>Others say we shouldn’t re-name it because the people of 1953 saw fit to honor him and who are we to second-guess them? Some say renaming the bridge would be nothing more than political correctness run amuck. I ask the question: Does Talmadge continue to represent the values of the majority in this community in 2013? Is this the best we can do? </p>
<p>There is a time-honored tradition in this country of re-naming something when we feel that the person or thing for whom it is named no longer represents who we are. After the Revolution, Americans up and down the coast, including in this city, renamed practically anything with a royal name. This is no different. </p>
<p>But if we take Talmadge’s name off, whom should it be named for? My vote goes to Oglethorpe. What better way to memorialize Georgia’s founder than to name the most prominent part of Savannah’s landscape for him? It’s a fitting memorial for a man who challenged others to rise above the commonplace and who believed that men could reinvent themselves. </p>
<p>Oglethorpe might invite us then to stand atop the bridge and survey the landscape. What, he might ask, do you see? I can tell you: You’ll see rooftops, you’ll see palaces, you’ll see spires that reach to the sky. You’ll see civilization. And you can imagine Oglethorpe saying, “All of it built by people like me.”</p>
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<p>Stan Deaton, Ph.D., is the Senior Historian at the Georgia Historical Society, which is headquartered in Savannah. </p>
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http://savannahnow.com/column/2013-02-10/commentary-give-georgias-founder-his-duename-bridge-after-oglethorpe#commentsColumnOpinionSTAN DEATON, PH.D.PoliticsSocial IssuesSavannahBritish governmentCandidate PositionCompany LocationEllis ArnallEugene TalmadgeEugene TalmadgeFamily RelationfoodGeneralGeography of GeorgiaGeography of the United StatesGeorgiaGeorgiaGovernorHerman TalmadgeHerman TalmadgeJames Edward OglethorpeJames OglethorpeJohn SmithJohn WinthropMassachusettsmayor , chief justice and governorNatural DisasterOglethorpePennsylvaniaPerson CareerPerson LocationPerson TravelPoliticsProvince of GeorgiaQuotationRhode IslandRidley ScottRoger WilliamsSanchezSavannah RiverSavannah, GeorgiaSocial IssuesSouth CarolinaTalmadgeTalmadge Memorial BridgetreasurertrusteeUnited KingdomVirginiaWilliam PennSun, 10 Feb 2013 05:26:21 +0000STAN DEATON, PH.D.1023406 at http://savannahnow.com